Bob(AK) 53 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Thought some of you may find this interesting. Photo taken with a microscope of concentrates from dredging, gold and magnetics removed. This material is tiny, size of black sand. Guess they must be garnets, but strange there are no larger ones, Bob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nugget108 1,737 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 That's really neat stuff. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hoser John 1,240 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Garnets are pretty soft and glacier actions grind them down pretty small. We have in calif ,around Coarsegold, some much larger multi colored beauties-John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
adam 3,128 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I cant bring myself to believe that they are all garnets , however It would be likely most of them are. You can tell that many of them were formed that small to begin with, especially the ones with visible C faces. Regardless, they are awesome looking! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Caliche Chris 180 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 One at the bottom looks like it's wearing shades. Kind of looks like of one of the California raisins. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
El Dorado 964 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Very cool picture........like a Pirates chest of gems Quote Link to post Share on other sites
greendave41 9 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 yeah who knows what all you got there. I would say the pinks, reds, and oranges are all garnets (various types..almandine, pyrope, hessonite, rhodolite) I see some likely rutile in there, the green is likely epidote. might have some zircon in there as well....cool pic!-Dave Quote Link to post Share on other sites
weaver hillbille 488 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 (edited) http://www.geo.utexas.edu/courses/347k/redesign/gem_notes/garnet/garnet_main.htm Dave,Thanks for the surfing,Bryan------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------" ,I would say the pinks, reds, and oranges are all garnets (various types..almandine, pyrope, hessonite, rhodolite) -Dave Edited July 30, 2015 by weaver hillbille Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bob(AK) 53 Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 Thanks guys, and thanks for the great garnet info. Spent a couple more days there, got some gold and of coarsemore baby garnets. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
weaver hillbille 488 Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 (edited) I wonder if an optical sorter could work with baublite that small? WOnder what the market is for garnet sand- separated by color?http://www.mogensen.de/fra/pdf/Optical_Sorting_of_Ceramic_Raw_material.pdf According to the link 3-5 mm is doable.SAnd Ceremony anyone??? ANyone? Juat a wonderin ...http://www.heirloomhourglass.com/index.htmlhttp://www.heirloomhourglass.com/wedding_unity_sand_ceremony_videos.html Edited August 5, 2015 by weaver hillbille Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hoser John 1,240 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 Actually you use glycerine and alcohol to adjust the specific gravity in a container and the junk or the garnets float and skim them off dependent on your needs. Works great for diamonds also in the rough in Sierra Leon-John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
weaver hillbille 488 Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 But does that method separate by color? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Swampstomper Al 1,336 Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 yeah who knows what all you got there.-DaveGreendave -- had no idea you were on these boards; good2cu out here in the west..!Actually, finally had a chance a couple weeks ago to visit one of your earlier-life spots.. We were up in Boone just to beat the heat for a bit, not so much to do any prospecting.. We did take a couple rides down the hill though, one of which was out Roseborough to the Forest Service road & 4+ mi down to Gregg Prong at the crossover.. Water was down, you could tell it had been hit hard recently, and we only had a couple hours to pan around anyhow -- which was just fine considering how hot & humid it was.. Nora stayed down by the bridge & I waded on up to the falls.. Many good looking likelies, most of which had already been punched.. Looked around mostly, found a couple nice fat quartz stringers & crevased some secondaries.. Not a lot of color, but some.. Still have N's cons to go through back here.. Definitely wouldn't mind going back when we have multiple days to dedicate to the area.. Nice spot, thanks.. Have a pix or two, but still in cam..SA Quote Link to post Share on other sites
El Dorado 964 Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Those pics are stunning..... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chrisski 847 Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Bob(AK)Those are amazing garnets. The colors are amazing, especially for a magnified photo. Thanks for posting.Actually you use glycerine and alcohol to adjust the specific gravity in a container and the junk or the garnets float and skim them off dependent on your needs. Works great for diamonds also in the rough in Sierra Leon-JohnHoser John--The process you talked about with glycerin and alcohol, does it have another name? I tried looking this up in Google, but couldn't find any info on it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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